News Briefs for Tuesday, Nov. 21

Here is the latest news for Tuesday, condensed for easy reading.

Argentina’s new president to visit Israel before inauguration

Aregentina’s new libertarian president Javier Milei says he will visit Israel and the U.S. before taking office.

Javier Milei. Public Domain photo.

“I travel with some regularity to the United States. From New York I will go to Israel — we have already been talking to the Israeli Ambassador in Argentina,” Milei disclosed in a radio interview on Monday.

A populist leader has a long love of Judaism and Israeli flags were visible features of his campaign.  He also appears on stage to the sound of the shofar, the ram’s horn blown on Rosh Hashana. In addition he is studying Torah with Buenos Aires-based Rabbi Shimon Wahnish. While talking of converting to Judaism, Milei said it probably wouldn’t work because of certain practices around observing Shabbat where you cannot use electronic devices or travel in vehicles.

Among the first to visit him after his socialist rival conceded defeat were the Israeli Ambassador in Buenos Aires, Eyal Sela, along with a delegation from the AMIA Jewish Center in the Argentine capital. Argentina has about 180,000 Jewish citizens.

Milei had been critical of the former socialist government of as being too closely tied to terrorist organizations like Hamas and the Palestinian Liberation Organization.

He has stated that he will move Argentina’s embassy to Jerusalem.

Hostage deal could be announced today

Kansas City’s rally featured a banner of the 240 hostages being held by Hamas.

Talks between Israel, the United States, and Hamas could secure an agreement for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip. The agreement could come at a high cost for Israel for it would require the release of hundreds of jailed Palestinian terrorists, AFP reported Tuesday morning.

Israel’s Channel 12 reports a senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, saying two sides are “very close to a deal” to secure the release of dozens of hostages.”

In a tweet Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country’s military, cabinet and then government would be called into session this evening – about 12 noon US Central Time.

A senior Hamas official, Ismail Haniyeh, released a statement to AFP claiming that an agreement is likely to be reached soon.

“We are close to reaching a deal on a truce,” Haniyeh said.

The agreement is likely to be controversial as many Isreaelis say it will only encourage Hamas or other terrorist groups to take civilian hostages in the future.

Twitter sues over claims of antisemitism

Twitter is suing the discredited watchdog group Media Matters for defamation.

It comes after global brands such as IBM, Comcast, and others pulled ads from Twitter (X) after a Media Matters report published on Nov. 16 claimed that ads for major brands appeared next to posts touting Nazism on the platform.

Over the weekend, Elon Musk, the owner of X, threatened to file a “thermonuclear” lawsuit against Media Matters “and all those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company.”

Internal data shows that Media Matters used an algorithm and fake accounts to flood Twitter with comments and posts in an effort to get the ads to show up next to antisemitic comments.

On Monday, Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino said that “not a single authentic user on X” saw IBM, Comcast, or Oracle ads next to the content that Media Matters reported.

“Only 2 users saw Apple’s ad next to the content, at least one of which was Media Matters,” she added. “Data wins over manipulation or allegations. Don’t be manipulated. Stand with X.”

Stacey Abrams’s brother-in-law arrested for sex trafficking

Jimmie Gardner. Photo: police.

Jimmie Gardner, the brother-in-law of failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, has been arrested by Tampa police for allegedly trafficking a 16-year-old girl.

Gardner, who has used his position to become a well-connected youth motivational speaker, was taken into custody following the incident at the Renaissance Hotel at International Plaza. His wife is a federal judge and sister to Abrams,

Gardner faces serious charges, including one felony count of human trafficking involving a minor, one felony count of lewd or lascivious touching of a minor, and one misdemeanor count of battery.

Release of Jan. 6 footage elicits calls for new investigation

House Republicans, who doubted the voracity of the Jan. 6 Congressional investigation, are doubling down after the release of previously blocked video footage.

House Speaker Mike Johnson on Nov. 17, released 90 hours of footage to the House Administration Committee’s website. About 100 hours of footage have been released so far via that website.

The footage, say Republicans, puts in doubt the conclusions of the House investigation.

“The goal of our investigation has been to provide the American people with transparency on what happened at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and this includes all official video from that day,” Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) said in a news release.

“As I’ve said all along—the American people deserve transparency, accountability, and real answers supported by facts instead of a predetermined political narrative,” Loudermilk stated.

Johnson said that his decision will give millions of Americans, Jan. 6 defendants, public organizations, and media outlets the ability to see “what happened that day” instead of having to rely on a “small group of government officials.”

First images of trapped highway tunnel builders

Video was released Tuesday of 41 men trapped for more than a week in a Himalayan highway tunnel tunnel project.

The men have been stuck in the 3-mile tunnel since it caved in early on Nov. 12. The video revealed they are safe with access to light, oxygen, food, water, and medicines, according to Indian authorities.

The cause of the massive collapse has not been determined and rescue efforts have been hampered by difficuty drilling through the debris in the mountainous terrain.

Indian authorities released the first video showing workers who have been trapped in a collapsed tunnel for more than a week. The images were taken with a camera which was sent into the tunnel through a new pipeline. https://t.co/7mMGvbh2YM pic.twitter.com/tOrO4y0PNO

— ABC News (@ABC) November 21, 2023

A 30-second video provided by authorities showed about a dozen of the trapped men standing in a semi-circle in front of the camera, wearing helmets and construction worker jackets over their clothes against the backdrop of the lights in the tunnel.

World’s elites emit as much carbon as bottom 66% of population

A new study shames the world’s elites highlighting what critics call their hypocrisy of reducing climate footprints.

This means that a small sliver of global elites, about 1% of the population, have produced as much carbon as the five billion people that make up the bottom 66 percent by wealth, per the study.

The study was based on research compiled by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and examined the emissions of various income groups up to 2019. In summary, it suggested that the private jet-setting class of global leaders and policymakers, who take private planes to lead summits addressing the assumed dangers of climate change, may warrant charges of hypocrisy.

Sites for Presidential debates chosen

The controversial Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) on Monday unveiled four colleges that will host the presidential and vice presidential debates for the general elections in 2024.

Texas State University at San Marcos will host the first debate on Sept. 16, 2024.

The second presidential debate will be on Oct. 1 at Virginia State University, the first time such an event will be held at a historically black school.

The University of Utah, based in Salt Lake City, will host the third and last presidential debate on Oct. 9.

Lafayette College in eastern Pennsylvania will host the first and only debate between vice presidential candidates on Sept. 25.

It is not known if the Republican candidate will even show up. The Republican National Committee (RNC) unanimously voted in April 2022 to sever ties with the CPD, accusing the nonprofit group of being biased.

SNL skit mocks men competing against women

In a sign that there could be a shift in the acceptance of biological men competing in women’s sports, a Saturday Night Live skit ripping the practice has gone viral.

The comedy troupe re-enacted Monty’s Python’s infamous “Black Knight” skit of a fake documentary.

When told “there’s no place for girls” in tennis,  the character Charna Lee Diamond chooses to compete against Ronnie Dunster, played by the huge Jason Mamoa. Diamond wants to prove any woman can beat any man in athleticism, but things become horribly gruesome.

Watch it here:

SNL ridiculed the idea of women competing against men in sports last night. pic.twitter.com/75vruZUMic

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) November 19, 2023

–Compiled by Metro Voice 

Zuckerberg Photo: JD Lasica from Pleasanton, CA, US Creative Commons Attribution 2.0. 

All other photos by Metro Voice or WikiCommons Media.